1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new antitumor antibiotic substance and to its production. More particularly, it relates to a new antitumor antibiotic substance designated macracidmycin and to processes for the preparation thereof by the fermentation of a strain of Streptomyces atrofaciens (e.g., M590-G2) and to methods for its recovery and purification.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hamao Umezawa, one of the inventors of the present invention has studied antitumor antibiotics produced by Streptomyces since 1951 and in 1965 he emphasized the importance of antitumor antibiotics with a macromolecular nature as described in his paper "Bleomycin and Other Antitumor Antibiotics of High Molecular Weight", Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 1965, pages 1079-1085. In the continuation of the study of the macromolecular antitumor antibiotics, the present inventors discovered a new compound and after characterization and purification based on its physicochemical properties, they confirmed that this antibiotic now named macracidmycin is a new compound which shows a new type of activity in interacting cell membrane, and they established processes and methods for its production and isolation.